Machine eor dividing streams



Nov. 4 1924. 1,514,330

B. NEAL ET AL MACHINE FOR DIVIDING ST REAMS OF STOCK IN MILLS Filed Nov. 26, 1923 GEOFGE/i HEBEB/Y/INU B W. 4 M

Patented Nov. 4, i924.

orricE.

BURTON NEAL, or sr. Louis, AND enoaea H. naeneaann, or KINLOCH, MISSOURI.

MACHINE FOR DIVIDING STREAMS OF STOCK IN MILLS.

Application filed November 26, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BURTON NEAL and GEORGE H. HEBEBRAND, citizens of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, and in Kinloch, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, respectively, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Dividing Streams of Stock in Mills, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel machine for use, particularly, in dividing a flowing stream of stock in a mill into equal parts or into parts having and maintaining a fixed quantitative relation to each other, so that the machines receiving suchstock shall be supplied with unvarying quantities thereof during any period of operation.

In the milling of wheat into flour, under modern methods of procedure, the utmost accuracy is required in the adjustment of the machines and in the supply of the stock thereto at all stages of the milling operation, in order that the various milling ma chines may operate uniformly and deliver uniform quantities of material, to the end that, as a result of all of the operations in the mill, uniform grades of flour may be produced.

One of the prime essentials in scientific milling is the ability to sub-divide a main stream of stock, either whole grain or partly reduced grain, into equal parts, or parts having a fixed relation to each other, to be delivered to a plurality of machines for reducing the stock, as the stock from these individual streams, after treatment in one machine, is separated into different grades of stock by other machines, such as purifiers, bolters, etc., and certain proportions of the mill product are ultimately re-combined to make various grades of stock. It will be obvious that if the main stream of stock is unequally divided, or if the relative size of the sub-divided streams is not maintained, one set of machines will receive and deliver a greater quantity of material than another, or others, with the result that, in the subsequent combining Of the streams, there will be a difference in the constituent character of the stock delivered by these machines from that of the same character of machines treating another stream of stock.

Furthermore, under the above conditions,

one machine such, for example, as a purie fier, may be overloaded and not work satis- Serial No. 676,922.

factorily, while another purifier treating'the same character of stock, may receive less stock than it isadapted to handle.

All machines with which we are familiar, which have heretofore been used for dividing a flowing stream of stock into adifferent number of parts, are open to the objectionthat they are not uniform or accurate in operationand will vary in the quantita tive sub-division of the stream of stock not only in normal operation, but particularly under conditions of variations in the quantitative flow of the stream of stock to be subdivided, which is practically never uniform in a mill.

Having the above facts in mind, it is the object of our, invention to provide a machine which will uniformly sub-divide a flowing stream of stock into equal parts, or into parts having and maintaining a definite quantitative ratio to each other, under all ordinary conditions obtaining in the flow of the main stream ,of stock to be subdivided.

One of the leading characteristics of our invention is the provision of means for causing the main stream of stock, regardless of its size or the character of the flow as to regularity, to be delivered to a centrifugal distributing device in such manner that. the stock Will be discharged uniformly over the entire surface of v the distributing device, which latter cannot fail to produce an even or regular and uniform spray of the stock therefrom. The sprayed stock is received into spouts located at equi-distant points around the distributor, which spouts convey the stock to the particular machines which are tooperate upon it.

Another feature of our invention resides in the, provision of means for maintaining a uniform and regular delivery of the stock to'be sub-divided, which means are adapted to be adjusted automatically in proportion to the quantity of stock flowing at any particul'ar time.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of means for regulating the quantity of stock which may be delivered to the various spouts leading from the stock distributor. 7

Other features of the invention reside in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts whereby the broad, T

i open at both ends.

known I embodiment I of our invention, it should be' lunde'rstpod that so far as the broad principle of the invention, as outlined in the claims, is concerned, the drawing -isto' be considered as illustrative merely, and various modifications in the form and general construction of the device could be made without departing from the spirit of our invention. y

In the accompanying drawing- Figure '1 is a vertical sectional view through a machine constructed according to vee e FigureQ is a. sectionalplan view on the line" 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a broken detail view illustrating one of the curved slots employed in connection with the adjustable means regulating the quantityof stock to be delivered to the spouts;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the device for "maintaining a uniform character of discharge of the main stream of stock to be subdivided, and

Figure 5 is a view in side elevation of said device and a portion of the shaft on which it is mounted.

Referring nowto the drawing, the numeral 1 indicates a casing which may be of sheet metal and is preferably of frustoconical shape in its upper portion, and of cylindricalshape at its base, as indicated at 2. The lower end of the cylindrical portion 2 is closed by a bottom 3 which is provided with a plurality of openings 4 located at equal distances from each other around the circumference of the bottom 3. In the present instance, four of these openings are shown, but any given number may be provided according to the exigencies of the case. lVitheach of these openings communicates a spout '5, each of which is designed to carry a stream of stock to some character of machine or machines in the mill. The bottom 3 is mounted centrally on the top of a cylinder frame 6 which is provided with ball bearings 7 for rotatably receiving the central portion of a shaft 8. This shaft is mountedat its bottom in a ball bearing 9 and above this bearing has secured on it a pulley 10 through which the shaft is driven means of a belt 11 operated from any suitable source of power. The upper end of the casing is closed by a top 12 whichis provided with a relatively large opening in which is mounted a cylindrical housing 13 Mounted on the top 12 and .surroundingthe upper end of the housing 13 is an inclined spout 14 which is designed to deliver the stream of stock to be sub-divided. The shaft 8 is extended upward throughthe casing 1 and through the housing 13 andhas secured on its upper end an arm 15" which is located centrally of its length on the shaft. Pivotally secured at their upper ends in the outer ends of the arm 15 are two blades ltl which, as indicated at 17, have a slight spiral conformation or twist so that the face of each blade will be inclined from its inner to its outer edge rearwardly relative to the direction of rotation of the blades. This disposition of the blades is for the purpose of causing them to be swung inward by frictional engage ment with the stock when a relatively large quantity of the stool; passes through the h using 13 and thus, as hereinafter described, permitting the free iiow of the steel: while maintaining the uniform character of its discharge from the housing.

- Secured on the shaft 8 at the bottom 3 is a hollow conical member 18 which operates in the rotation of the shaft 8 to distribute the stock, by centrifugal force, to the openings 4-. Hinged at either end on the bottom 3 to eX- tend centrally between each of the openings 1, are partitions 19, each of which at its upper end has a threaded bolt 20 projecting through a curved slot 21 in the wall of the cylindrical portion 2 of the casing, and provided with a wing nut 22, by turn'ingwhich each partition 19 may be secured in any adjusted position, whether vertical or inclined. Mounted on and extending from either side of each of the partitions 19 is a curved strip 23 which is adapted to cover the slot 21 at all times.

In operation stock delivered through the spout Il passes into the housing 13 where it is subjected to the action of the paddles 16 which are rotated at a speed of about fourhundred revolutions per minute. The stock will, therefore, be uniformly distributed over the area of the wall of the housing 13 and will be discharged therefrom in substantially the form of a cylindrical stream, and as the housing 13 is located centrally over the distributor 18, the stock will fall uniformly over the entire inner surface of the distributor. The latter, of course, rotates with the same degree of rapidity as the blades 16 and operates to spray the stock outward from its upper edge uniformly throughout the entire circumference thereof. The stock thus sprayed from the distributor falls through the openings 1 into the spouts 5 and an equal quantity of stock will be received by each spout. If it be found that of, say, two purifiers, one has greater capacity than the other, the partitions 19 may have their inclines adjusted so as to decrease the capacity of one spout and increase ,the capacity 'of the other. Whatever the adjustment, however, the same relative quantity of stock will always be delivered to the various spouts; hence the ma chines fed by these spouts will always receive a uniform quantity of the stock.

In the event the flowof the stock through the spout ll should increase in quantity so llU as to practically occupy the entire capacity of the housing 13, the blades 16, due to their conformation, will gradually swing inward thus relieving the pressure on the blades and permitting them to rotate more freely while permitting the free discharge of the stock at the inner periphery of the housing. This inward swing of the blades would, of course, obtain to a greater or less extent at all times, increasing with the increase in the quantitative flow of the stoclr through the i'iousing.

We claim:

1. A? machine for dividing a flowing stream of stool: into a number of streams quantitatively uniform, comprising a casing having spouts leading therefrom at equidistant points around its bottom, a centrifugal distributor rotatably mounted within said casing, a stock delivery spout communicating with an opening in the top of said casing, a housing depending from the top of said casing around said opening, a plurality of pivotally mounted paddles located in said housing, and means for rotating said distributor and said paddles.

2. A machine for dividing a flowing stream of stock into a number of streams quantitatively uniform, comprising a cas ing having spouts leading therefrom at equidistant points around its bottom, a stock delivery spout communicating with an opening in the top of said casing, a housing de pending from the top of said casing around said opening, rotatable shaft extending through said casing, a centrifugal distributor mounted on said shaft at the bot-tom of said casing, and an arm centrally secured on the top of said shaft and having paddles pivotally mounted at their upper ends in the outer ends of said arm and depending in said housing adjacentthe Wall thereof.

3. A machine for dividing a flowing stream of stock into a number of streams quantitativelyuniform, comprising a casing having spouts leading therefrom at equidistant points around its bottom, a stock delivery spout communicating with an opening in the top of said casing, a housing depending from the top of said casing around said opening, a rotatable shaft extending through said casing, a centrifugal distributor mounted on said shaft at the bottom of said casing, and an arm centrally secured on the top'of'said shaft and having paddles pivotally mounted at their upper ends in the outer ends of said arm and depending in said housing adjacent the wall thereof, said paddles having their stock-engaging faces inclined in a direction to cause the paddles to swing inward under frictional engagement with the stock.

a. In a machine for dividing a flowing stream of stock into a number of streams quantitatively uniform, in combination with a casing having a bottom provided with equidistant openings and spouts leading from said openings, means for feeding stock ceiving said stock, means for imparting a rotary movement to the stock within said housing to cause its discharge uniformly from all parts thereof, and a centrifugal distributor positioned below said housing for receiving the stool: discharged therefrom.

6. In a machine for dividing a flowing stream of stock into a number of streams quantitatively uniform, in combination with a casing having a bottom provided with equidistantopenings and spouts leading from said openings, means for feeding stock to said casing, an open-end housing for receiving said stock, means for imparting a rotary movement to the stock within said housing to cause its discharge uniformly from all parts thereof, and a hollow conical centrifugal distributor positioned below said housing for receiving the stock discharged therefrom.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

BURTON NEAL. GEORGE H. HEBEBRAND. 1 

